Brief: The KDE version of Linux Mint 18.3 that will be released soon will be the last to feature a KDE Plasma Edition. Which means Linux Mint 19 and above will not have KDE edition.
Linux Mint KDE Edition will soon be history. The Linux Mint Project head, Clement Lefebvre announced it in a blog post detailing the future plans of the project. He said, “In continuation with what’s been done in the past, Linux Mint 18.3 will feature a KDE edition, but it will be the last release to do so.”
This means Linux Mint 19 will be available only in Cinnamon, Xfce and MATE editions. According to Clement, KDE apps, ecosystem and QT toolkit have “very little in common” with their present project. Another reason for dropping KDE is that Mint team works hard on developing features for tools like Xed, Mintlocale, Blueberry, Slick Greeter but they only work with MATE, Xfce and Cinnamon and not KDE.
He also said that in as much as the project wants to diversify in order to attract a bigger market for Linux, they also want to focus on what they “do well and we love doing to get better and better at doing them. KDE is amazing but it’s not what we want to focus on.”
The announcement, however, was soft on KDE users as it states they will be able to install KDE on top of Linux Mint 19 (unofficially) and will also be able to port Mint software to Kubuntu. Suggestions were also made KDE users could also try Arch Linux “to follow upstream KDE more closely”.
Linux Mint 18.3 will be codenamed “Sylvia” and is expected to be released next month. It will have the support for Flatpak packaging. The latest Cinnamon 3.6 will also be included in this upcoming release.
On the positive side, those who will continue using Linux Mint will now have a better experience since the developers will be able to put more time to build Mint a better operating system.
What do you think of Linux Mint dropping KDE?
What is the exit plan? Thee are users in places such as digitally divided who need time to adjust in so many ways, from financial to infrastructure, what word do the developers have for them?
I think Mint are doing the right thing. I love KDE and use it on my workstation, and I also love Mint (Cinammon) and use on the family PC’s, but I never use Mint KDE as I felt it lacked the polish and stability of other KDE distro’s. Well done Linux Mint for making this tough, but wise decision.
Okay, I’m old. Started Linux back during the previous millennium with Red Hat and switched to MEPIS when RH change from a personal use distro. MEPIS was KDE and I liked it and the way that distro worked.
When MEPIS discontinued, I went to Mint KDE. Been happy and have been contributing monthly. I like that I can trust the testing the Mint crew has done preparing the updates for me. Since I’m mainly using my computer, and don’t have state of the art or bleeding edge uses, this works well. I put it on my wife’s computer and have no problems telling her that if it came from Mint, it’s likely safe and will work. She can do the updates and install stuff from the repository without fear. (Yes, problems can occur, but the conservative focus they practice means they may be smaller problems.)
Since these point levels don’t go Poof! in the middle of the night, I can still be using what I’m using for a while. (using 17.3 on my daily driver and 18.2 at my chairside, just for fun) OTOH, I can show myself I’m not too old to adjust to the world and try out Mate, Cinnamon, or XFCE. Being from the Mint family, the advantages I suggested above will apply. FWIW, XFCE is looking good for the few times I’ve tried it. And I have a friend or two who uses it, neither of us because of its light footprint or limited resource demands. So I can try new stuff while I’m in my recliner.
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I think a Linux Mint are a good choice for change to users os windows, and discover the universe of linux.